Bleeding Grapefruits

February 22, 2013

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

International human rights experts present "a plan of action to prevent incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence" in regard to "national, racial and religious hatred." Yes, CFI will be looking very closely at this.

CFI yesterday trumpeted our inclusion in the Respect for Marriage coalition, dedicated to the repeal of DOMA and in support of marriage equality.

Holy moly, this alleged psychic really does know everything about the people he's reading. See how.

This is almost too crazy: A court in Pakistan will reopen an 84-year-old case in which a writer was murdered for allegedly blasphemous material, and the murderer sentenced to death. The case is being reopened because of the notion that the writer "invited his death" by blaspheming, thereby exonerating his murderer.

For humanists, the selection of the next pope is a win-win situation. Either a more humanistic modernizing force that respects science and opposes discrimination will be elected to help bring the church into the 21st century, or a conservative traditionalist will be chosen to continue the backward prejudices and repressive tendencies that contribute so significantly to the flight from faith that is destroying organized religion. So either Catholicism is about to become more humanistic, or there's about to be lots more former Catholics coming to humanism.

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, a Mormon and Republican, makes a case for marriage equality in The American Conservative. In doing so, he even gives a small nod to un-churched marriages:

All Americans should be treated equally by the law, whether they marry in a church, another religious institution, or a town hall. This does not mean that any religious group would be forced by the state to recognize relationships that run counter to their conscience. Civil equality is compatible with, and indeed promotes, freedom of conscience.

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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.